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PRESIDENT Obama has blamed our economic woes on the “bursting of a debt-based bubble” and a culture of “easy money.” Funny: The Build America Bonds program, an obscure part of this year’s vast “stimulus” package, sure seems to be encouraging reckless and irresponsible borrowing.

Maybe the administration thinks reckless borrowing makes sense if it’s being done by local governments?

“Build America” securities work like normal municipal bonds: Localities issue them to raise cash for projects or to pay down other debt — except that the federal government covers 35 percent of the interest costs.

Subsidized borrowing? Needless to say, state and local governments love it. Indeed, as the Bond Buyer reported earlier this month, the program’s far more popular than lawmakers had predicted: Official budget estimates for the program’s cost this year ranged from $50 million to $91 million — yet, in less than half the year, more than $250 million in payments are already scheduled.

The paper cites municipal-bond analyst Philip Fischer estimating that taxpayers could bleed billions a year by the time the program winds down.

“The bond program’s costs are skyrocketing because we’ve created an easy-money system for pet projects around the nation,” says one critic of the program, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC).

Pet projects? The Treasury Department promises public disclosure soon of just who’s issuing the bonds, and for how much. But we already know that the biggest issuer so far is near-bankrupt California, which has already sold more than $5 billion worth.

You can understand why the Golden State would jump at any chance to reduce its multibillion-dollar load — but why should taxpayers in New York be giving bunglers in Sacramento a backdoor bailout?

And just consider some of the projects that these bonds are going to back. The city of Tillamook, Ore., hopes to issue $110 million in Build America Bonds to build a golf resort.

According to the Tillamook Headlight Herald, the project would include “a 250-room hotel, 18-hole championship golf course, 200-acre tourism site and a conference center.” Other attractions: “a 3,500- square-foot restaurant with seating for 100 people; a British pub; a 3,000-square-foot nightclub; and an equestrian center, among other amenities.”

Loten Hooley resigned from the Port of Tillamook Board of Commissioners over his opposition to the project. He calls it a “boondoggle,” and he’s right.

What are the chances that a luxury golf course will make money in a sleepy town in a state with the nation’s second-highest unemployment rate? In a region that gets more than 100 inches of rain a year? And in a county whose population is under 25,000?

Yes, cows outnumber people in Tillamook. In fact, many of those cows graze in the immediate vicinity of the proposed luxury resort, in naturally fertilized fields — which could make for some interesting odors out on the links. As Hooley explains, “It smells like cow, 24/7. The wind blows like stink.”

It’s unlikely that most Build America Bonds will go to projects as irresponsible as Tillamook’s. But it’s easy to imagine local politicians using them as one more way to avoid the tough choices needed to achieve long-term fiscal health.

Some may also wind up borrowing more than they can really afford, with local taxpayers on the hook in the event of a default. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority, for example, had planned to issue $250 million in Build America Bonds — then encountered huge demand, and decided to borrow more than $1.3 billion.

The District of Columbia plans to issue at least $300 million of the bonds to refinance its own debt. The federal subsidy will help the DC government end-run the law that caps its debt service at 12 percent of its budget.

Here in New York, state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) is worried about the $750 million in Build America Bonds issued by the Metropolitan Transit Authority for unspecified capital projects. “New York can’t print money like the federal government can,” Golden explains, “So more borrowing means more taxes for people in the city and the downstate area.”

Obama was right when he warned of the culture of too-easy credit. It’s just too bad that with the Build America Bonds program, he’s playing the enabler — on the federal taxpayers’ dime.